Shadow
by fermataoso
Summary: The sight of you framed by the sunset is burned into my mind, and though my eyes are closed, I see you still, your long hair flying free - free, just like you.


_I close both locks below the window.  
I close both blinds and turn away._

I can't watch you leave me. The sight of you framed by the sunset is burned into my mind, and though my eyes are closed, I see you still, your long hair flying free - free, just like you. If only I were free. I can't watch you leave because weak as I am, I want to hold on to the hope that you're still just outside the window for as long as I can.

_Sometimes solutions aren't so simple.  
Sometimes goodbye's the only way._

You're right, of course, much as I hate you for it. You're right to go, and as much as every part of me wants to go with you, it's just not that simple. Why do we have to be so different? Why does it have to be this way? Why couldn't we have lived before the Wizard, or would our differences inevitably pulled us apart no matter when we lived?

Maybe I was meant to be this way – alone in my crowd. Maybe you were meant to teach me everything I'm not. Either way, I know now. Much as I want to be blind, blissfully ignorant, you have forced the truth in my eyes.

You awe me. The power you have is far beyond that of magical ability. You have such strength, such fire, that I can't even comprehend it. Sometimes I think that's why you're such a great enchantress – you can make things happen by pure will. Say the word,

_And the sun will set for you._

I so firmly believe you can do anything. After all, you found a heart beneath this popular façade, saw through the brainless exterior to the potential within. You changed me. You made me think, _care_ in a way I didn't think possible.

How are you gone? I can't fathom it.

_  
The sun will set for you,  
And the shadow of the day  
Will embrace the world in grey,  
And the sun will set for you._

But you are. Gone.

I can't even imagine my life without you, but I must. You're gone now, and I'll miss you more than I can imagine. If only you hadn't given me a heart, taught me it's reality, I could pretend it wasn't shattered.

Much as I tell myself the opposite, I doubt our paths will cross again. After all, who am I that I can find you if you don't want to be found? Who am I that you would come back for me? Who am I compared to you, and the life you'll find wherever you go? You'll be changing the world, and I'll…I'll just be playacting a purpose. A stuffed puppet to smile and wave when required, then shoved in a corner until the next public appearance._  
_

I'm still so amazed that a person as remarkable as you is leaving with no more send off than my own regret. How am I the popular one, compared to you? You're the one with greatness in your destiny. Or is that what intimidates everyone? I imagine you receiving the farewell you deserve, the parade, the tears, or even more simply from the students who have surrounded you this past time at Shiz.

_In cards and flowers on your window,  
Your friends all plead for you to stay._

I imagine you being persuaded, though I know that is impossible. You were never stay, even if all Oz begged you. You would never sacrifice integrity to appease others. No, that's my arena. You have your duty, and I have mine. If only mine were as noble as yours.

_Sometimes beginnings aren't so simple.  
Sometimes goodbye's the only way._

I know this of course, even before you said the words. They echo again in my head like a chorus. My mind flashes to our rocky beginning, and the mutual dislike that flowered into so much more. Why must this beginning destroy that one? _Why_ can't there be another way?

I guess I never did deserve you, our lives pulled in opposite directions. You must go save Oz from tyranny, and I must … don't know. I want to think I'm doing good, changing Oz for the better. I want to believe we're on the same side, no matter how it seems.

How can I be allied with your enemy, I, who love you more than all others? It defies logic. How can I smile at those who slander you? What if they should seek to kill you? Must I smile at the murder of my love, my only true friend? I can't stand it, yet I can see it too clearly now, a premonition I hope is a false nightmare.

_And the sun will set for you.  
The sun will set for you,  
And the shadow of the day  
Will embrace the world in grey,  
And the sun will set for you._

I feel dead myself, as if everything that was real about me is gone with you. Perhaps that is the reality. Already everything is so dull and gray without the bright colors you bring to life in everything around you. And not just your green skin, though I know that's your first thought. I should think you know by now exactly how little that matters to me.

What will I do without you? Maybe I was a fool and made the wrong choice. It's been known to happen a time or two, or a million. Maybe if I hurry, I can still catch you. Maybe you really are waiting just outside the window, waiting for me to change my mind.

Full of fool's hope, I fling open the blinds, scouring the western sky for sight of your epic profile. You are hardly easy to miss. I can almost see your shadow in the clouds, flowing gracefully over the ground and past the moon.

_And the shadow of the day  
Will embrace the world in grey,  
And the sun will set for you._

Lit by the last vestiges of the sunlight over the horizon, I see it's not true. You're gone, and the sky is as empty as I am.

The purple of the night sky is invading, killing the sunlight that weakly remains to battle the coming blackness. How appropriate that I should lose you at nightfall. How fitting that the grey of the sky should echo in my heart, setting the tone for the rest of my life.

_And the shadow of the day  
Will embrace the world in grey,  
And the sun will set for you._

* * *

AN: Song is Shadow of the Day by Linkin Park. Ah, procrastinating. So who is it, Fiyero or Glinda? I'm curious... 


End file.
